A high level of whiteness is an important parameter for the end-user of paper products. The most important raw materials of the papermaking industry are cellulose, pulp and lignin which naturally absorb blue light and therefore are yellowish in color and impart a dull appearance to the paper. Optical brighteners are used in the papermaking industry to compensate for the absorption of blue light by absorbing UV-light with a maximum wavelength of 350-360 nm and converting it into visible blue light with a maximum wavelength of 440 nm.
In the manufacture of paper, optical brighteners may be added either at the wet end of the paper machine, or to the surface of paper, or at both points. In general, it is not possible to achieve the whiteness levels required of higher-quality papers by addition at the wet end alone.
A common method of adding optical brightener to the surface of paper is by application of an aqueous solution of the optical brightener at the size-press together with a sizing agent, typically a native starch or an enzymatically or chemically modified starch. A preformed sheet of paper is passed through a two-roll nip, the entering nip being flooded with sizing solution. The paper absorbs some of the solution, the remainder being removed in the nip.
In addition to starch and optical brightener, the sizing solution can contain other chemicals designed to provide specific properties. These include defoamers, wax emulsions, dyes, pigments and inorganic salts.
In order to reach higher whiteness levels, considerable effort has been put into the development of new optical brighteners. See, for example, Japanese Kokai 62-106965, PCT Application WO 98/42685, U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,913 and European Patent 1,763,519.
GB 1 239 818 discloses hexasulphonated optical brighteners derived from triazinylaminostilbenes. Examples 1 to 6 disclose their sodium salts. Magnesium is only mentioned in a list of possible counterions for the hexasulphonated optical brighteners, starch as a component in a surface sizing composition is also only mentioned in a list of possible binding agents.
The demand remains for more efficient means of achieving high whiteness levels in paper.